Incandescent-gas-light apparatus.



No. 672,888. Fatah fed Apr. 80. ISOL- G. H. aunnows 886. L. WEAVER.

INGANDESGENT GAS LIGHT APPARATUS.

(Application filed Dec. 13, 1900.) (N o I o d el Til mun-mum I Waw.jvwewzfiro 9 Geo? e ilz'urrow f aeai el. weave/7",

UNITE STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

GEORGE H. BURROWS, OF SOMERVILLE, AND GEORGE L. WEAVER, OF BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TO THE INCANDESOENT GAS LIGHT COMPANY, OFBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

INGANDESCENT-GAS-LIGHT APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 672,888, dated April30, 1901-.

Application filed December 13, 1900. Serial No. 39,662. (No model.)-

To (LZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that We, GEORGE H. BURROWS, a resident of Somerville, andGEORGE L.WEA VER, a resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk andState of Massachusetts, citizens of the United States, have invented anImprovement in Incandescent-Gas-Light Apparatus, of which the followingdescription, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is aspecification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

In United States Patent No. 665,311, granted January 1, 1901, to one ofthe applicants herein named, novel apparatus for incandescentgas-lighting is shown and described, wherein a very thorough mixing ofgas and air under pressure is effected in a mixing-chamber before themixture is permitted to pass to the burner, the latter in the saidpatent being formed by a cap or cover, preferably of fine wire-netting,mounted on the outlet end of the mixing-chamber. The heat generated atthe burner in such apparatus is sometimes very great, particularly iftwo or more of the devices are arranged in close proximity, as is notinfrequently the case, and in practice we have experienced some troubleby the rapid burning out of the burner. Our present invention relates tothe same general type of apparatus as forms the subject-matter of thesaid patent; but we have herein embodied a burner which will not burnout and which also byits form and construction prevents burning back, asit is termed, so that the mixer herein is protected from such action.

Various other novel features of our invention will be hereinafterdescribed, and particularly pointed out in the following claims.

Figure l is a view, partly in, elevation and partly in vertical section,of an incandescentgas-lighting apparatus embodying our present inventionwith one form of burner illustrated'. Fig. 2 is a view, partly brokenout, of the mixing-chamber and another form of burner seated therein,the other parts being omitted. Fig. 3 is a top or plan view of thechamber and the burner therein. Fig. 4 represents in plan and sideelevation, the latter partly broken out,still another form of burnercooperating with the mixing-chamber; and Fig. 5 is a perspective viewof. yet another modification of the burner detached.

Referring to Fig. l, the mixer being shown as adapted for use with aburner, a tubular chamber a is formed at the upper end of or constitutesan enlarged continuation of a tube a, a shade-holder A, secured to thetube, having a socket 2 to receive the supportingstandard 3 of anincandescing mantle M of any suitable or well-known construction, suchas the Welsbach mantle, its lower end surrounding the burner, to bereferred to. The tubular outlet 1) of a valve-case b extends into thelower end of and supports the tube a, and connected parts, acontrolling-valve I) being mounted in the case b which latter is securedto a T-coupling B, communicating by conduits g and c with suitablesupplies of gas and air under pressure. (Not shown.) As in the patentreferred to, we prefer to use air under slightly greater than the gaspressure. The conduit-s are provided, respectively, withcontrolling-valves g and 0 by which the proportions of gas and air areregulated to the proper mixture for combustion at the burner.

It is necessary to thoroughly mix the gas and air before reaching the.burner, and for this purpose we have located a permeable barrier in thechamber a, between the inlets for gas and air and the outlet of saidchamber, such barrier being shown herein as a superposed series ofarched foraminous diaphragms, preferably made of wire-netting ofdifferent degrees of fineness. The lowermost and coarsest diaphragm 5 isplaced with its convex face up, its edges being supported by the annularbottom a of the chamber. The next two diaphragms 6 are opposed to eachother, with their annular edges together, forming a hollowconvexo-convex compartment resting on the diaphragm 5, the opposeddiaphragms being of successively finer mesh than the lowest one. Afourth diaphragm 7 rests on the top one of the pair 6 and is placed withits concave face uppermost, and it is of still finer mesh, its edgespressing against the wall of the chamber a. The entering gas and airmust pass through the various openings in the diaphragms and are mostthoroughly and intimately mixed before reaching the burner, the barrierretarding the flow of the gaseous mixture, and thereby giving sufficienttime for effective and uniform mixing to take place.

As will be described, the compression of the diaphragms tends to flattenthem and decrease their permeability, so that the action of the mixermay be varied according to circumstances.

In the patent referred to use is made of a packing of granular materialin the mixer to further retard the flow and also to prevent the flamefrom burning back through the wire-gauze burner; but herein we areenabled by the novel form of burner to dispense with all danger ofburning back and to also greatly increase the life of the burner, whileproduc ing equally fine results as to light, small consumption of gas,and complete combustion of the gaseous mixture. The burner in accordancewith our present invention is made as an elongated plug of highlyrefractory material, cast-iron having proved very satisfactory and beingvery cheap and easy to manufacture. Referring to Fig. l, the plug-likeburner d, of suitable refractory material, is fitted snugly into theoutlet end of the mixing-chamber, its lower end resting on the edge ofthe diaphragm 7, and communication is established between the mixer andthe top of the burner by a series of long tube-like passages or holes (1in the burner and extended therethrough from end to end. When the burneris lighted, a series a small jets are formed, which rapidly heat themantle M to incandescence. The length of the plug is sufficient toprevent any possibility of the flame burning back, and by pushing theburner more or less into the chamber the diaphragms are more or lessflattened to vary their permeability. The top of the burner is slightlyrounded or convexed, as shown in Fig. l, to thereby direct the flamemore directly toward the mantle, particularly from the outlets adjacentthe periphery of the burner, the tendency of the elongated smallpassages being to deliver the gaseous mixture with considerable force,as from nozzles.

By longitudinally crimping or corrngating the upper end of the chambera, as at a Fig. 4, we can use a solid cylindrical plug-burner al theburner-outlets at its periphery,formed by the corrugations, presenting aring of small jets of flame, this construction being well adapted forshort mantles. An equivalent result is obtained by providinglongitudinal grooves or corrugations (Z in the burnerplug, asillustrated in Fig. 5, a smooth chamber being used therewith. Witheither construction if a long mantle is used we have found it advisableto provide the burner with internal apertures or passages, such as dFig. 5, as they act to carry the flame therefrom well up to the top ofthe mantle.

Yet another form of burner is shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the plugf, ofrefractory material, having segmental channels or grooves f in itscylindrical surface, said grooves increasing in width from the bottomupward by making the dividing ribs or portions f withupwardly-converging sides f Com paratively large outlets are thusprovided for the gaseous mixture adjacent the periphery of the burner,the lateral widening of the grooves further operating to lessen thevelocity of efl'lux, and this form of burner is adapted for shortmantles. If long mantles are used, we prefer to also provide the burnerwith aseries of internal outlet passages or perforations f to carryaportion of the flame to the upper part of the mantle, the desired endthereby attained being, manifestly,to provide for as uniform andcomplete incandescence of the mantle as is possible.

The various forms of burner shown are adapted to also regulate thepermeability of the barrier in the mixing-chamber, as has beendescribed.

After the gas and air valves have been once adjusted the valve 12, Fig.1, is used for service purposes to turn on or shut off the light.

By our invention a thorough mixing of the air and gas is efiected andthe exit of the mixtu re is made noiseless, all singing, hissing, orroaring being prevented.

Various changes or modifications may be made by those skilled in the artwithout departing from the spirit and scope of our in- Vention.

Having described our invention, What we claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. In apparatus of the class described, a mixing-chamber having air andgas supplies communicating therewith, a permeable barrier in saidchamber to effect thorough mixing of air and gas and to prevent noisyescape of the mixture to the burner, an elongated burner of refractorymaterial located in-the outlet end of said chamber, and a plurality oflong tubularoutlet-passages establishing communication between the outerend of the burner and the interior of the chamber adjacent thereto.

2. In apparatus of the class described, a chamber, air and gas suppliescommunicating therewith, a permeable barrier in the chamber, to efiectthorough mixing of air and gas, an elongated, plug-like burner ofrefractory material inserted in the outlet end of the chamber,'andelongated tubular outlet-passages establishing communication between theouter end of the burner and the interior of the chamber, said burnerbeing longitudinally adjustable in the chamber to vary the permeabilityof the barrier.

3. In apparatus of the class described, a mixing-chamber having air andgas supplies communicating therewith, a permeable barrier in saidchamber to effect thorough mixing of air and gas and to prevent noisyescape of the mixture to the burner,and an elongated burner ofrefractory material fitting in the outlet end of the chamber andprovided with a plurality of long tube-like passages extended erasesfrom end to end of the burner to establish communication between thechamber and the outer end of the burner.

4. In apparatus of the class described, a chamber having air and gassupplies communicating therewith, a permeable barrier therein to effectthorough mixing of gas and air, a plug-like burner of refractorymaterial inserted in the outlet end of the chamber, and elongatedtube-like passages to convey the mixture of gas and air from the chamberto the outer end of the burner adjacent the periphery thereof.

5. In apparatus of the class described, a chamber having air and gassupplies communicating therewith, a permeable barrier therein to effectthorough mixing of gas and air, and a plug-like burner of refractorymaterial inserted in the outlet end of the chamber and provided adjacentits periphery with a pinrality of outlets extending the length of theburner, for the air and gas mixture, the burner being longitudinallyadjustable in the chamber to vary the permeability of the barrler. 1

6. In apparatus of the class described, a burner composed of anelongated plug of highly refractory material, a chamber in the outlet ofwhich the burner is seated, gas and air supplies communicating with thechamber, a barrier in the latter, consisting of a.

plurality of arched foraminous diaphragms, adjacent diaphragms beingoppositely arched and a plurality of tube-like ducts or passagesextending the length of the burner and establishing communicationbetween the chamber and the outer end of the burner.

7. In apparatus of the class described, a mixing-chamber having air andgas supplies communicating therewith, a plurality of arched foraminousdiaphragms in said chamber between its inner end and its outlet, and aplug of refractory material seated-in the outlet end of the chamber andprovided adjacent its periphery with a plurality of outlets for themixture of air and gas extending through the plug from end to end, theplug constituting the burner and protecting the diaphragms from the heatof the flame.

8. In apparatus of the class described, a mixing-chamber having air andgassupplies communicating therewith, a plurality of arched foraminousdiaphragms in said chamber between its inner end and its outlet, and aplug of refractory material seated in the outlet end ofthe chamber andprovided with tube-like outlet-passages extending the length thereof forthe mixture of air and gas, the plug, which constitutes the burner,being longitudinally adjustable in the chamber to vary the curvature ofthe diaphragms.

9. In apparatus of the class described, a burner provided with'a mantle,the burner consisting of an elongated plug of refractory materialprovided with a plurality of tubelike passages extended therethrough,and a mixer in the outlet end of which the burner is seated, and havingair and gas supplies in communication therewith, the burner beinglongitudinally adjustable to regulate the action of the mixer.

10. In apparatus of the class described, a tubular mixing-chamber havingair and gas supplies communicating therewith, a plurality of archedforaminous diaphragms in the chamber between its outlet and the innerend, adjacent diaphragms being oppositely arched, and a plug of highlyrefractory material seated in the outlet end of the chamber and providedat its outer end adjacent its periphery with a plurality of outlets forthe delivery of the mixture of air and gas, said plug constituting theburner, the inner end thereof pressing upon the adjacent diaphragm toforce the edges of the several diaphragms against the wall of thechamber.

11. In apparatus of the class described, a burner consisting of anelongated plug of refractory material and having at its outer end theoutlets of a series of passages extended through the plug, anincandescing mantle, a mixer in the outlet end of which the burner isseated, and air and gas supplies communicating with theburner-passages,by or through the mixer.

12. In apparatus of the class described, an elongated burner ofrefractory material provided with a plurality of long, tube-likepassages, some of which are arranged adjacent its periphery, anincandescing mantle, and a mixer having air and gas supplies incommunication therewith, said mixer communicating with theburner-passages, and comprising a chamber and a series of archedforaminous diaphragms therein.

13. In an apparatus of the class described, a mixing-chamber having airand gas supplies communicating therewith, a plurality of archedforaminous diaphragms in said chamber between said inlets and itsoutlet, and an elongated, plug-like burnerlocated atthe outlet of thechamber.

14. In apparatus of the class described, a chamber having air and gassupplies communicating therewith,a permeable barrier therein to effectthorough mixing of air and gas, and a plug-like burner at the outlet endof the chamber having a plurality of elongated passages with theiropenings adjacent the burner periphery.

15. In apparatus of the class described, a chamber having air and gassupplies communicating therewith, a burner at the outlet end of thechamber, and a permeable barrier in the latter between the burner andthe inlets, the barrier being held in place by the burner.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE E. BURROWS. GEORGE L. WEAVER. Witnesses:

JOHN C. EDWARDS, MARGARET A. DUNN.

